SC GOP solicits funds to honor current & recent leaders

Columbia, SC – How much would you give to see a Mt. Rushmore-inspired monument depicting Mark Sanford, André Bauer, Nikki Haley, and Ken Ard? That’s exactly what the South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) wants to know.

Critics have already labeled the project "Mt. Shabmore" using the acronym SHAB for Sanford-Haley-Ard-Bauer.

“We are incredibly proud of what’s been accomplished in the past eight and a half years,” said SCGOP spokesman Griffin Keyes. “The leadership we’ve put forth for South Carolina — first with Sanford and Bauer and now with Haley and Ard — has been instrumental in making our state the place it is today. When was the last time we’ve had two consecutive administrations generate so much national buzz? Probably not since the 1860s.”

The SCGOP sent a fundraising letter out to supporters this week asking for donations for the monument. From the solicitation:

We are proud to be Republicans, proud to be South Carolinians, and we can proudly claim to have been at the helm of our state’s government for the past nine years. And what a term it’s been. The accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but we want to memorialize our leaders and we hope to erect a monument in time to coincide with Governor Haley and Lt. Governor Ard being sworn in to their second terms in January of 2015. With your generous donation, we can make this dream a reality.

Republican sources say the scale of the monument itself will be determined by the contributions that are recieved.

“We would love to have a Mt. Rushmore-scale monument,” said Keyes, “but that may not be realistic. We have a great spot for it picked out on the face of Table Rock in Pickens County, but we’ll have to save at least some of the money for the campaign and administrative expenses. It’s nice to dream though.”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” said a Democratic operative who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t think they’ll raise enough to put it on a keychain, but I’d buy one. Hell, I bet the Democrats could send the same letter out and raise even more money than the Republicans — those guys are seriously out of touch.”